


Every Day is the Yesterday of Tomorrow

by Kaesteranya



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-06-13
Updated: 2011-05-04
Packaged: 2017-10-18 23:46:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/194586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaesteranya/pseuds/Kaesteranya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the dead come back and powers return, what's a gang of old friends and fighters to do?</p><p>A sequel outside of the events of Persona 3: Trinity Soul. Set years after the game, with deviations from FES.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bedtime Stories.

_This is a story that could happen in a city like this, or in completely different place.  
It is about a boy that could be just like you, or completely different from you._

 _It happened long ago, but it could take place again today or maybe even tomorrow._

 _Whatever the place, whoever the boy and whenever the time, it is a story that we must all hear and know by heart and remember always, to save us all from the Final Night._

  
“…Are you sure you all want to hear this again?”  
“Papa, don’t be mean!”  
“Of COURSE we want to hear it!”  
“Tell us! Tell us, quick!”  
“Okay, okay…”

 _In an unnamed City, there lived a Boy of Many Faces and a special soul. He had no parents, and few memories of the past, but he was a good boy, and he was a tough boy, and he was used to being alone. One day, though, the boy met others like him, boys and girls with special souls. They, however, had but two faces. This did not discourage the boy, and finally, when he had discovered faces to match those of his friends, he grew closer to them, and eventually found a place where he could belong._

 _Now the City that these children lived in was a peculiar city, for in between one day and the next a strange hour would strike, and monsters would consume the place. These monsters were Shadows, darker than the darkest night, viler than the vilest soul… they preyed upon the thoughts of people, and none but those with special souls and faces could stop them. And once, on the night of a full moon, one of the twelve Big Shadows emerged, threatening to thrust the city into eternal darkness._

 _Even though they were afraid, the Boy of Many Faces and his friends fought hard to defeat the Shadows. When they destroyed the Twelfth Shadow, they rejoiced, for they believed that they had beaten their enemies and the City was now safe._

 _But then the Boy with No Tomorrow came._

“Hey, hey, you’re falling asleep already.”  
“No m’not…”  
“No, she’s not!”  
“NO SHE’S NOT!”  
“Are you sure?”  
“Papa!”  
“All right. But you’re going to go right to sleep after I finish this.”

  
 _“I am the Thirteenth Shadow,” the Boy with No Tomorrow said. “I am the united soul of the Twelve you defeated, and the messenger of the Goddess of Nighttime. Now that I am free, I will summon her, and she will bring the Final Night down upon us all.”_

 _The Boy of Many Faces and his friends tried to protest: it was too early to put everyone to sleep, they said. There was too much to stay awake for, they said. But the Boy with Tomorrow only looked at them with sad, sad eyes and said, “I will wait for seven days. Until then, see if you will fight the Goddess or not.”_

 _For seven days and seven nights, the companions of the boy with many faces despaired: they were special children with extraordinary powers, but no one, not even they, could fight against the Goddess of Nighttime and hope to win. But the Boy of Many Faces did not share in their grief. The City — no, the world — meant too much to him, and if fighting the Goddess gave the City a chance, then he would fight. He told the Boy with No Tomorrow this, and once again, the Boy with No Tomorrow looked at him with sad, sad eyes._

 _“Are you sure this is what you want?” asked the Boy With No Tomorrow._

 _“Yes,” returned the Boy of Many Faces._

 _And so the Boy with No Tomorrow nodded, and disappeared._

 _When the Goddess of Nighttime came, the Boy of Many Faces and his friends raised their weapons and prepared to fight her, but the Goddess proved too strong. In his last moment, the Boy of Many Faces turned to watch the City slumbering, and turned again to see his friends on the floor, fighting off the sleep of the Final Night. The Boy of Many Faces stepped in front of the Goddess of Nighttime and held out his arms._

 _“Let the world stay awake,” he said. “Bring the Final Night upon me and me alone.”_

“…‘And the Goddess listened to him.’”

  
Akihiko Sanada looked up from the storybook, noting the sleeping faces of his three youngest kids. The man only smiled and set the book aside. He tucked the lot of them in, kissed each of their foreheads, and shut off the lights. Mitsuru was waiting for him in the doorway.

  
“You read them that story again?”

  
“They always ask me to whenever I’m home.”

  
They embraced once, and kissed the moment the door clicked shut. Her mouth tasted faintly of menthol cigarettes. Her father used to burn roughly a pack a day, but Mitsuru only smoked when she was stressed. “Corporate matters again,” she offered by way of explanation; Akihiko’s concerned look had not gone unnoticed. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. You’re home.”

  
Akihiko followed Mitsuru into their room; he sat on the bed, and watched his wife as she traded stiff corporate attire for a loose silk bathrobe. This was what he looked forward to coming home to, every time the prospect of another ring and another fight put him on a plane and flew him out of the country: the sight of Mitsuru’s smile, her unbound hair, the outline of her body, and the white nape of her neck. She sent him a puzzled look. He only shook his head and gestured for her to come to bed. She obeyed.

  
“We have a big day tomorrow,” Mitsuru murmured as they lay down. “I don’t intend to let the Board get in the way of that.”

  
“Of course.”

Akihiko turned off the light.


	2. Between the click of the light and the start of the dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A reunion that doesn't quite go as planned.

She was terribly, embarrassingly early and she knew it, but the flight she had taken had ended up not taking any of the scheduled stopovers, and the hotel she had booked a room at wasn’t ready to let her check in. In her younger years she might have made a big deal out of it, but the demands of her job and the passage of time had changed a lot of things.

  
Yukari Takeba sat on the curb just outside the doors of the Tatsumi Memorial Hospital with her one piece of luggage and can of iced coffee, soaking up the warmth of the summer morning and the sounds and smells of Port Island City. Only joggers, house wives (or husbands) and kids with their pet dogs were out at that moment, and to them she figured she must’ve looked like some eccentric lady dressed ala Lara Croft, choosing a spot on the sidewalk rather than a bench and smiling at nothing in particular like a complete idiot. Staying still wasn’t something she normally did, but today was a special day.

  
“Good morning, Takeba-san! Ah… the others aren’t around yet?”

  
“I guess not. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

  
“Yes, it is has. It’s good to see you again!”

  
Yukari sat down in the lobby as she waited, and returned the greetings of each and every nurse or doctor that waved at her or stopped to say hello. The staff of Tatsumi Memorial Hospital was very familiar with the old members of SEES — the hospital had been built using Kirijo Group money, and in between the grand group reunions, Yukari used to be one of the two most frequent visitors to the patient in Room 410. Of course, given the new turns she had decided to make with her life, her visits dramatically slowed down and eventually trickled to a complete stop as soon as she had finished a degree in Journalism and landed the job of her dreams. This was, in fact, her first visit to the hospital in nearly five years.

  
It was nearly lunch time when the rest of the old group started coming in — after a round of greetings, the lot of them sat down in the lobby, catching up on what each one of them had been doing since the last time they had all been together. As she sat with her friends and looked at each one of their faces, Yukari felt as though in spite of the fact that fifteen years had already passed, not much had changed from their days living together in the dormitory, fighting Shadows.

  
Where Yukari had spent a few years after high school living the life of a disgruntled office lady, Junpei had spent those same years wandering through Japan, hitchhiking from destination to destination and doing odd jobs whenever he ran out of money — he had been the usual absentee member of the party whenever they had a reunion at the hospital, although he had always been sure to send word and his best wishes. Nobody was sure how and when it happened, but Junpei eventually found himself in Okinawa, where he opened a restaurant for the sailors at the harbor. He was currently married with one son, and declared himself to be deliriously happy. He also continued bringing around that strange, leather bound journal that Yukari and other members of SEES used to catch him writing in soon after Chidori’s death.

  
Following the wishes of her father, Mitsuru took control of the Kirijo Group the moment she was able, and expanded the reach of the group farther and faster than anyone would have thought possible… Kirijo everything filled billboards all over the world, and there wasn’t a single household in Port Island City that didn’t have some sort of appliance or toy manufactured from Kirijo warehouses. Of course, being the head of the Kirijo Group did not seem to detract much from her time with Akihiko, who had proposed to her right after she had graduated from university. Yukari remembered the day well: Port Island City’s still undefeated Golden Boy winning the world lightweight championship title for the first time, and dedicating his victory to the hopes that CEO Mitsuru Kirijo would marry him the moment he flew home. It had made it to international television.

  
In a move that none of them would have expected in their younger days, Fuuka went traveling around the country for a year after high school, working with a non-government organization — she later brought these experiences with her to university, where she took up criminology and graduated at the top of her batch. She was one of the detectives assigned to the Port Island City Police’s Special Victims Unit, and occasionally worked on cases with Aigis.

  
Ken had thrown himself whole-heartedly into his studies, and managed to land a scholarship for the rest of his grade school and high school days. When he had expressed interest in going to law school, Mitsuru and Akihiko had offered to sponsor his studies. Ken, however, had politely refused. No one was surprised to later hear that Ken’s grades had landed him a full scholarship. He was currently employed at a publishing company in order to fund the rest of his needs.

  
Aigis had managed to enter Port Island City’s police force with some help from Mitsuru and the Kirijo Group: she was the one-woman special task force that was only called in to handle cases that would normally be impossible to handle for a regular squad or detective. Because of their close proximity with each other, she and Fuuka had grown close over the years — the two had made it a Sunday habit to walk Koromaru together, and Yukari used to join them when she had still been working in the city. On his end, Koromaru moved a little slower than before and was graying around the edges, but he was still the same old dog who had fought alongside them fifteen years ago. Three of his puppies lived with the Sanada Family; Akihiko took them on his daily morning jogs.

  
The conversation eventually died down, leaving the old members of SEES sitting around in the lobby, smiling at each other. They all decided that it was time to go without needing to speak it out loud, and the group entered the elevator together.

  
The fourth floor of Tatsumi Memorial was the section that the hospital dedicated to special medical cases and long-time coma patients — it was the most peaceful place in the building, and manned only by a handful of personnel. The hush over the place was contagious; it infected the old members of SEES the moment they stepped off the elevator, and they traveled as one silent group to the room at the end of the corridor. They did not need to stop by the nurse’s station and ask for the key to the room; each one of them carried their own keys to the place, as they were the only visitors that the patient in Room 410 had, and they came around frequently enough to be able to do things for themselves.

  
With the exception of Akihiko and Aigis, it had been fifteen years since any of them had been in a fight; an experience like Tartarus, however, was a hard one to forget. Because of that, all of them were instantly aware of the fact that there was somebody else in Room 410 the moment they entered, somebody other than the man lying in the cot. Old habits kicked in, and with a quick exchange of nods, Ken and Aigis went inside first with Koromaru, checking to see where the newcomer was. Junpei and Akihiko remained in the doorway, planting themselves in between whoever was there and the rest of the group.

  
“There’s nobody around,” Ken declared after circling the room. “I still feel like we’re being watched though.” Aigis seconded his claim with a grim nod. Koromaru still had his ears flat against his head, and let out a low growl.

  
“Maybe we’re just paranoid or somethin’,” Junpei said with a laugh. “I mean, it’s been a while since all of us were here, right? We’re just worried that Minato’s lonely here.” it was clear from the tone of his voice that Junpei didn’t believe himself. Nevertheless, he stepped aside to let Mitsuru, Fuuka and Yukari in. Akihiko, however, stayed where he was. He did not notice his wife’s questioning look: his eyes were fixed to the chair set by Minato’s bed.

  
“We’re not just being paranoid,” the boxer whispered. “There is someone there.”

  
At his words, Shinjiro Aragaki quietly faded into plain sight for the rest of the troupe; he was seated on the chair, watching the party with the narrowed eyes and lopsided grin that had been his trademarks over fifteen years ago. When he spoke he still sounded the way he had in life: gruff and low, scratchy from one too many cigarettes. There was an undertone, however, of peace, and contentment.

  
“Still as sharp as ever, Aki.”

  
Mitsuru stepped in, speaking for her husband. “You’re not supposed to be here anymore, Shinji,” she said, speaking out loud what the rest of the group was thinking. Shinji, however, chuckled and shook his head.

  
“I’m here because I have to be here.” Shinji stood up. He had one ghostly hand over Minato’s forehead, but when he spoke he looked straight at them.

  
“…Something big and dark is coming, and it’s going to wake Minato up. Once he’s up, there’s no turning back.”  



End file.
